The ergonomics of conventional scull and shell rowing, where a rower's arms, legs and back apply propelling force to the oars, are very good. The rower grasps the oars with his hands while sitting on a sliding seat facing the rear of the boat with his feet fastened in boots on the bottom of the boat. At the start of the power part of the stroke, the seat is located toward the rearward end of its motion with the rowers legs flexed, the rower lifts the oar handle to place the blade of the oar in the water, and the legs, then the back and finally the arms supply force to the oar as the rowers legs extend to slide the seat toward the forward end of its motion, propelling the boat forward. At the end of the stroke the rower uses wrist action to rotate the oar, thereby “feathering” it so that water force on the blade lifts the oar out of the water. The rower presses down on the oar handle to hold the oar out of the water during the recovery phase in which the rower legs are flexed to cause the seat to slide toward the rear of the boat. The momentum generated by moving the body and arms rearward toward the bootstraps brings the oar back to the starting position. Wrist action then rotates the oar blade, thereby “squaring” it, and upward arm motion then “plants” the oar in the water as the pulling force is once again applied.
A long-standing desire has been for a rowing apparatus which will incorporate these actions while the rower faces forward; i.e., faces in the direction in which the scull, shell, or other rowed vessel or boat is propelled. Facing forward is more pleasant and is better for keeping the boat on a proper course. Every backward facing rower has experienced serious safety concerns after encountering unexpected obstacles, even when mirror arrangements are used to look ahead.
Various attempts have been made in the prior art to provide a forward-rowing system, with varying success. For example, some rowing apparatus inventions disclose a sliding seat with feet fixed in bootstraps for leg assistance. Systems where the seat is fixed and the feet move can give better ergonomics, however, since the leg force transmitted to the oar need not go through the arms and back and the possibility of balancing the leg effort with that of the arms and back by separate connection to the oars becomes possible. Fixed seat systems may be found in the prior art. One such system provides footrests that slide in a track and are connected by ropes to oars in a normal, backwards facing rowboat, but this system does not require fastening of the feet to a foot support, does not have free foot movement, and more importantly does not have favorable foot ergonomics. In other systems, the entire oar rigging, including its full weight, must also be moved forward and backward with each stroke, thus increasing the required force and effort of the user. In still other systems, a configuration is provided where the feet rest on a swinging arm device to provide added power. The swinging arm motion has poor ergonomics, however, because of the unnatural relationship in the positioning and relative motion between the legs with the rest of the body. The principal focus of some devices is to provide a hands free rowing apparatus that automatically feathers, returns the oar to the starting position, squares it and finally lowers it into the water, whereupon force generated entirely by the legs is applied to the oars. Other prior art discloses a sliding foot support in a guiding track member to provide the transfer of leg effort by a complex pulley system to an oar movement mechanism. Such systems suffer from undue mechanical complications, with much inherent friction, and probable unreliability in a wet environment.